Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[SGOS]

I hate to admit it, but I really liked the ending to: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. This is an underrated movie in my opinion, great acting, directing, and story line. Not every ones taste though. Solitary

I don't advocate revenge.  But I have to say, I do enjoy a good revenge movie.  They're especially good when things get so bad for the original evil doers that you almost feel sorry for them.

[Berati]

Just saw Guardians of the Galaxy in an AVX 3D theater. Great combination of action and humour and it deserves its 92% fresh rating at rotten tomatoes. Should probably be even higher.

[Hydra009]

Finally saw Hunger Games.  7.5/10

It's a fairly fresh idea, very well put together, and it definitely got me invested in the protagonist's plight.  I liked it.  I really did.

But it took a surprisingly long time to get to the titular games, some of the action was noticeably off (like grabbing a spear with your armpit bad), lots of missed opportunities (showing more about the society and its history, fleshing out the tribute characters and the mentor, etc) and lots of headscratchers (Everyone in district 12 is herded together to watch the Hunger Games that apparently goes on for days?!  What's the significance of the mockingjay? What do the champs get?  Why is District 12 whiter than Maine?  Wouldn't the districts be called by actual names rather than numbers?  How do you get your name in the hat 42 times today if they only pick tributes once a year?  And seriously, how many times do people fall from considerable heights and apparently not seriously hurt themselves in this movie?)  Also, I think there was some social commentary going on about the rich-poor divide but it was too subtle for me to get.

And finally, I definitely would've implemented the Hunger Games system differently:

[spoiler]All tributes are handled separately and not allowed to fraternize at all.  That includes training.  Otherwise, they could hurt each other, glean information about their opponents ahead of time, form emotional attachments or even alliances.

Immediately prior to the games, tributes are escorted by security and locked inside an elevator tube that is raised to the surface instead of tearful farewells in a pointless room culminating in a leisurely stroll onto the tube (there's a pretty good chance involuntary tributes wouldn't voluntarily leave the room, duh)

The elevators reach the surface and unlock simultaneously after a brief introduction.

Tribute starting locations are equidistant from each other around a central supply cache approximately 1 km away.  There's also a meager supply cache immediately next to the tribute starting locations.

Unscalable walls surround the Hunger Games site and tributes are warned not to attempt to scale the walls or lethal force will be used against them.

Outside interference in a game in progress is forbidden.  No sponsors.  No airdrops.  No nothing.

Games officials cannot change the rules of the game; the game continues until there is a sole victor.  In the unlikely event that the victor is fatally wounded, the victor is celebrated posthumously.   In the absurdly unlikely event that the last two tributes refuse to fight, the game goes on until only one is left alive, however long that is, and the victor is imprisoned and ultimately executed for cowardice and dereliction of duty.

The victor receives fame and fortune as well as a sizable grant for the district.  Tributes would most likely be entirely voluntary at this point.

Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.[/spoiler]

[SGOS]

While I liked the Hunger Games too, I never understood the purpose of the games.  Sure their purpose was described in the movie quite succinctly, but I was left with the nagging feeling:  "Explained?  Yes; Makes sense?  Not really."  I guess, it's one of those things you are not suppose to give thought to.  It's just the way it was.

But the movie was surprisingly good, compared to the books, at least compared to the third book, which I borrowed from the Library because the second movie left me hanging.  There's so much in the book that just doesn't seem plausible.  In addition, while the books were written for young adults, they read like they had been written by one, probably one of high school age.

It seems to me that this is one of the exceptions, where the movie is better than the book.  Just reading the third book, I would have never guessed that anyone would see any potential there for making a movie at all.  I could see none.  The only satisfaction I got was seeing how the series ended.

Edit:  That said, I would rate the movie very high, very high indeed.

[Hydra009]

Yeah, the Games make no sense.  The stated goal that they help people remember the past is bollocks and they certainly don't help bring the nation together.  Quite the opposite.  It gives districts a yearly reason to resent the Capitol.

There's also one part where Katniss is trapped in a tree by people who want to kill her.  They shoot like two arrows at her and apparently give up and all go to sleep together.  In the morning, she cuts down a beehive while they're sleeping and makes a break for it while they go all Wickerman.

And it's a stupid scene because it requires the antagonists to be absolute morons for that scene despite being competent elsewhere.  A better scene would be where Katniss is trapped in a tree by people who want to kill her, sees the beehive and cuts it down in one quick chop, then makes a break for it.  It's a minor change, but it would work so much better.

And that's why you let someone read/watch your work before going public.  So stuff like that doesn't happen.

[Savior2006]

I thought it was explained was that the reason the Games occur was for the Capitol to punish the Districts for rebelling against them in the past and to keep morale low so it wouldn't happen again.

[Shiranu]

I still need to watch guardians. Might do that soon.

[Munch]

I'm debating on either seeing guardians or deliver us from evil.

[Savior2006]

I'm debating on either seeing guardians or deliver us from evil.

Guardians is really funny.

[Lao Tou]

I saw Guardians last weekend. Pretty funny, worth a trip to the theater.

[Jutter]

Guardians otG was awesome. Believe the hype. Go see. 10/10
Great soundtrack too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSj4vmbyh5M

[SGOS]

I went to see Sin City yesterday because I was hard up for a movie, and the pickings at the theaters have been slim for the last month.  I was headed for theater 7 at the cineplex when I spied a water fountain 20 feet down the hall, and I was thirsty.  The doors for Sin City and Lets be Cops were side by side, and after I got my drink of water, I accidently walked into Lets be Cops, which started at the same time.  After sitting through a bunch of boring coming attractions, the movie started, and I thought it was just another coming attraction.  But 5 minutes into the movie, I realized what I had done.  My row was filled up, and I was sitting smack in the middle, so rather than create a disturbance, I decided to watch Lets be Cops.

So there I am sitting through a movie which gets a 15% rating from the professional critics at Rotten Tomatoes.  Ordinarily, I would never choose a movie with such a low rating, even a low rating from professional critics.  But you know what?  Lets be Cops wasn't bad.  It's wasn't great, but it's very much your average Hollywood comedy, maybe a bit above average.

[Shiranu]

Guardians... yeah, it was pretty damn good. Something about a Raccoon on the back of a giant tree creature blasting robots got a smile out of me... I cant understand why.

[Munch]

Just saw Guardians, I loooooooved this movie.
It did take a bit to get going at the start, but once it did it was awesome through and through. I loved the premise, how it didn't take itself seriously. It didn't have the old super hero crap about 'we don't kill we're heroes', they just killed, which was very satisfying. The characters were a lot of fun, with maybe only one of the main team members a little on the boring side, but the rest were great (<3 Groot), the villian was also a little disappointing but it in a way its good he was, as your see by the end.
The special effects were really great too, Rocket felt very blended in with the rest of the cast (as did Groot <3)/

It was just a fun, cool, adrenaline pumping sci fi romp that felt like back in the 80s sci movies, I'd recommend it to anyone even if your not a comic book fan, you don't have to be to enjoy this.

[the_antithesis]

So I was feeling nostalgic and stupid yesterday and I picked up The Black Hole and Tron on DVD.

It's been decades since I've seen Black Hole. I don't remember much about it. I do remember finding the climax a tad boring when they're trying to get to the smaller ship as the bigger ship is torn apart by the black hole and meteors and shit. It was kind of interesting up until that point as there was a mystery element with what Reinhardt was really up to and what really happened to the crew. But we learn all that and then spend the last twenty minutes going from set piece to set piece.

I do have to say, they are very lax with the laws of science. Vaccuum of space? Pressure suits? What are you? A pussy? I mean, wow. I wasn't expecting it to be the most scientifically accurate movie ever, but the last time I saw that was in Thundercats and I didn't except it there, either.

As it stands, it's a collection of nice ideas that don't really gel. The characters are just kind of there. Not completely flat, but not exactly fleshed out, either. The mystery buoys things, as I have said, but interest drains instantly once that's cleared up. Then there's that ending.

Ho Lee Fuck Ing Shit

Not since 2001: A Space Odyssey has there been such a confounding ending. And that one at least can be explained. This one really can't because they just threw in weird imagery of heaven and hell because it was 1979 and they were high at the time.

It is an oddity of a film from a time when Disney was desperate to do something because they were living on recycling their old animated films. This era brought us flicks like The Black Hole, Something Wicked This Way Comes and our next flick...

Tron

And fuck you.

I'll admit that I have a huge nostalgia boner for this movie that is large enough to have its own atmosphere. It was a movie about video games during a time when video games could be said to be my whole life. But it also has an aesthetic that cannot be reproduced no matter how hard you try.

I covered most of this movie when I saw Tron: Legacy a few months ago. It's not a great story or anything. But it works better than its sequel mostly because the sequel was more like a remake than a sequel, constantly referencing the original even when it wasn't appropriate. Also, young Jeff Bridges made a better lead than what's-his-name in Legacy. Bridges could play that kind of douchebag well and convey a likability that's hard to pull off. probably because he shows a vulnerability that modern douchenozzles refuse to show. He's hacking into the company mainframe to find evidence that he made those popular games that a co-worker stole and was subsequently promoted. He manages to make it clear that he is really hurt by this even though he's putting up a brave front.

It's also interesting to watch the movie from a filmmaking perspective. Some scenes were made before they decided that good guys should be blue and bad guys red (originally it was yellow and blue respectively). Bridges performance as Clu at the beginning is kind robotic because they didn't know how they should have the programs act.

I think at the end, there is just more to see here. Tron has the always fun Bridges doing his thing while Black Hole has Ernest Borgnine floating around on wires to make zero G, which sounds more fun than it actually is. That and Tron has the most beautiful production design ever.